nuraman00

Can I stop the car battery from shutting off, after 20 minutes, if the car isn't running? Especially when I'm listening to the radio.

I'm considering going to a drive-in, but don't want the radio to keep shutting off.

I do have a portable radio, but I think the sound quality of the car speakers might be better.

Eslader

It's not like the sound quality the drive-in is broadcasting is wonderful. I'd just use the portable radio.

I'm ancient enough to remember when you'd roll down the window half way and clip the drive-in-provided speaker to it. I liked that better than the radio-tuner way.

nuraman00

Thanks. I've never been to a drive-in before.

This is actually going to be a drive-in concert, not a movie.

So I would hope the sound quality would be a little better than normal. But we'll see.

They won't be providing speakers.

I was hoping that the combination of FM broadcasting, and my car's speakers, it might sound decent.

Do you know if there's any setting to change the auto shut-off option?

Poppa

I'm right there with you Eslader... guess I'm ancient as well because I sure remember the speaker that hangs on the window.. and of course if you wanted to get out of the car for any reason, you had to get out on the "other" side because the pole with the speakers was always too close to your door... man, the good ol days... kinda miss them. lol

Tootsall

And don’t forget the folks who would drive away with the speaker and a length of cable hanging from their windows.

tstewart77

If you put the tranny in neutral and the starter button in ‘on’ position the power will stay on with the car off.

nuraman00

Thank you, I will try that (before the drive-in so I can verify).

When you say "on" position, that's still just the first press of the start button, correct? Not the 2nd one, which also enables windows and other power items?

tstewart77

The second press of the button is what I mean by the 'on' position. I read it somewhere and tried it, and it does work.

nuraman00

This was Lexus' email response:

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Thank you for contacting Lexus.

We appreciate your inquiry regarding the operation of your audio system and the car battery. We completely understand that the having the battery in your ES 350 shut down after 20 minutes can be frustrating, especially at the drive-in.

We did research your concern and found that the auto shut off feature cannot be disabled. This is a feature that protects our guests from unintentional battery depletion. To be absolutely certain we did check and found that the feature is also not able to be customized for a longer period of time.

We hope that you found this information useful. Thank you again for contacting Lexus National Headquarters.

Sincerely,

Bo S.
Lexus Guest Experience Center